Developing an Eating Disorder Essay -- Eating Disorders Health Psychol

Why is it that people develop eating disorders? There is no simple explanation, and no one answer that applies everyone. There are several types of eating disorders, but the most prevalent in adolescent and young adult females are anorexia nervosa and bulimia (Larocca, 1986). There are six main areas that potentially explain just why it is that people succumb to anorexia and bulimia. These factors are biological, psychological, family, social, cultural, and media (Siegel, Brisman & Weinshel, 2002). One of the factors contributing to the development of anorexia and bulimia is biological. To some extent, it has been proven that temperament can be genetically determined. (Siegel, Brisman & Weinshel, 2002). This can easily be observed if a person looks at two children coming from the same parents and how different from each other they can turn out. â€Å"Biological factors that appear to play a role in the development of bulimia are a predisposition to depression and factors related to having a weight and shape that do not conform to the ideal standards promoted by society. These factors are for the most part due to heredity† (Sherman & Thompson, 1990, p. 63). Also, a person whose parents have a low metabolism and were predisposed to be on the heavy side will likely produce offspring of the same physical kind. This can lead to a daughter having a higher set-point weight than she will be content with, and finding it more difficult to lose weight and be as thin as she would like. Not surprisingly, anything that increases the liklelihood of having a higher weight and decreases the likelihood of being able to lose weight and keep it off should increase the probability of developing an eating disorder (Sherman & Thompson, 199... ... teenage girls showed serious signs of eating disorders† (Siegel, Brisman & Weinshel, 2002). Anorexia and bulimia are two very complicated disorders. Their cause(s) can be ambiguous at times; there is no specific reason that everyone with anorexia or bulimia develops it. There are many contributing factors to possibly explain the onset of one of the disorders. Good news is that years of research has narrowed the causes down somewhat to the six main areas that potentially explain just why it is that people succumb to anorexia or bulimia: biological, psychological, family, social, cultural, and media reasons, and in doing that, families and friends of people with anorexia and bulimia can do their best to get to the root of the problem/cause and give their friend or family member who is suffering hopefully another chance at a healthy, productive, fulfilling life.